Dāmalisutta

Sāvatthinidānaṁ. Atha kho dāmali devaputto abhikkantāya rattiyā abhikkantavaṇṇo kevalakappaṁ jetavanaṁ obhāsetvā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṁ abhivādetvā ekamantaṁ aṭṭhāsi. Ekamantaṁ ṭhito kho dāmali devaputto bhagavato santike imaṁ gāthaṁ abhāsi:

At Sāvatthī. Then, late at night, the glorious godling Dāmali, lighting up the entire Jeta’s Grove, went up to the Buddha, bowed, stood to one side, and spoke this verse in the Buddha’s presence:

“Karaṇīyametaṁ brāhmaṇena, Padhānaṁ akilāsunā; Kāmānaṁ vippahānena, Na tenāsīsate bhavan”ti.

“This is what should be done by a brahmin: unrelenting striving. Then, with the giving up of sensual pleasures, they won’t hope to be reborn.”

“Natthi kiccaṁ brāhmaṇassa, (dāmalīti bhagavā) Katakicco hi brāhmaṇo; Yāva na gādhaṁ labhati nadīsu, Āyūhati sabbagattebhi jantu; Gādhañca laddhāna thale ṭhito yo, Nāyūhatī pāragato hi sova.

“The brahmin has nothing left to do,” said the Buddha to Dāmali, “for they’ve completed their task. So long as a personage fails to gain a footing in the river, they swim with every limb. But someone who has gained a footing <j>and stands on dry land need not swim, <j>for they have reached the far shore.

Esūpamā dāmali brāhmaṇassa, Khīṇāsavassa nipakassa jhāyino; Pappuyya jātimaraṇassa antaṁ, Nāyūhatī pāragato hi so”ti.

Dāmali, this is a simile for the brahmin, alert, a meditator who has ended defilements. Since they’ve reached the end of rebirth and death, they need not swim, <j>for they have reached the far shore.”